Rittman man pulls knife upon arrest

Wednesday

Oct 11, 2017 at 11:05 AM

By Bobby WarrenStaff Writer

RITTMAN — A 26-year-old Rittman man in the process of being arrested pulled a knife with its blade extended, broke free of an officer’s grasp and took off running, only to be taken down and arrested by a second officer.

An officer saw Brent Wheatley, 26, who had warrants out for his arrest in Wayne and Summit counties, walking along Liberty Street on Sunday. Realizing the outstanding warrants, the officer approached Wheatley and grabbed him by the elbow to arrest him. That is when Wheatley allegedly reached into the pocket of a hooded sweatshirt he was wearing and said he had a knife, Police Chief Ray Arcuri said. When he pulled out the pocket knife, the blade was open.

Immediately, the officer went for the wrist. Wheatley broke free and took off running. He was spotted hiding under a tree behind a gas station.

Wheatley again took off, but a second officer was able to "in one continuous motion take him to the ground," according to the report.

Arcuri said he is not sure if Wheatley was pulling out the knife to simply let the officer know he had one or if the man planned to use it.

"It was too quick to say whether he was going to use it, but the blade was out and the threat is always there," Arcuri said. Studies show a suspect with an edged weapon can potentially be life-threatening within a 21-foot radius, and his officer didn’t even have 2 feet, he said.

"I commend them for using excellent restraint; it could have turned bad quickly," Arcuri said.

Rittman officers recently went through use of force training, and Arcuri praised his officers for how they handled the arrest. Because of the training, "We were fresh on tactics," Arcuri said. "They arrested him with the minimal amount of force necessary."

Wheatley ultimately apologized to the officers for running. They found suspected drug paraphernalia, three small packages of suspected methamphetamine and another knife. The suspected drugs were sent to a lab for testing. An officer will present the case to a grand jury after the test results are received.

Reporter Bobby Warren can be reached at 330-287-1639 or bwarren@the-daily-record.com. He is @BobbyWarrenTDR on Twitter.